Hem Reaksmey at Atlanta Olympics
Boun Than
For those of you who, like myself, have missed the opening
ceremony and the athletes parade, and then some of the actual
competition involving Cambodian athletes, here is an article
appearing in the sports pages of the Australian newspaper, 23
July 1996. Was there any coverage of Cambodian athletes by the
US or any other printed media anywhere else? (Thank you Houn
Nam Ing for giving us the results earlier on.)
The article was accompanied by a full length photograph of
Reaksmey on the block receiving instructions from an official
before her heat of the 100m breastroke.
"Hem shows we're abreast of the spirit"
By Roy Eccleston
Atlanta: The notion that the Olympics is about just taking part
has taken something of a battering in recent times, but
yesterday morning in the Georgia Tech pool in Atlanta, 14
year-old Reaksmey Hem from Cambodia reminded everyone that
sometimes just being there is a great achievement.
On a day when South Africa's Penelope Heyns broke her own world
record for the 100m breastroke, and every United States swimmer
was cheered like a medal-winner, Hem scored a special place in
the heart of the crowd when she took her turn to contest the
breastroke sprint.
Out in lane seven in the first heat of the event, the tiny
swimmer was already two metres behind when the other swimmers
surfaced. When they hit the wall for the turn she was a third
of a lap back, and by the time the last of the other girls had
finished the race in 1m20s, Hem still had at least half a lap
to go.
That's when the capacity crowd of more than 10,000 statred to
shout its encouragement. When Hem finally touched the wall,
she'd been cheered home like a champion.
As the other girls got out of the water, it was clear Hem was
not sure what happened next. She stayed in for a while, facing
the wall, before eventually paddling to the side.
When she went to get her tracksuit, she found officials had
already taken it away in preparation for the next heat. The
crowd applauded her out.
The official record of the 1996 100m women's breastroke heats
shows Heyns swam 1m7.02s - a world record. In 46th and last
place came the Cambodian on 1m44.68s - 24 seconds slower than
anyone else.
Her father and coach Thon Hem said through an interpreter that
his daughter has been swimming for seven years, but it was
difficult with limited resources.
Phnom Penh-based journalist Chris Deckerd of the Cambodia Daily
said Hem senior was caretaker of the local pool, which lacked
even a basic filtration system.
In Cambodia, he said, few even know that the Olympic Games are
on. The International Olympic Committee paid for the
five-member Cambodian team to come.
As for Hem, she admitted to being excited because it was the
first time she'd been in an international competition - it was
the first time she'd left Cambodia.
Nervous before the swim, how did she feel after the race? "She
says she has a lot of work to do,"said an interpreter.
And what about the roar from the crowd? "She didn't pay any
attention", he said. "She just tried to do her best."
Good on You, Reaksmey!!
Boun Than